Shadow Slave

Usually, it would have taken Kai a lot longer to fly across the city to reach the tranquil terrace district… not that he would have. But today, the famous idol neglected his habit of staying low and out of sight. It seemed that his speed increased tremendously, as well, because ten minutes later, he was already at Sunny's door.

Maybe because of that, there was no crowd of paparazzi following him.

As they waited for Cassie, Effie rummaged through the empty refrigerator, then walked away from it with a disappointed sigh.

"There's no food!"

Sunny, who was evaluating the damage the boisterous huntress had done to the guest bedroom, glanced at her darkly.

"We've been gone for months. What did you expect?"

Effie made a sad face, then shrugged.

"But I'm hungry!"

Sunny let out an exasperated breath.

"...I have some synthpaste, if you want."

She shuddered and opened her mouth to retort, but at that moment, there was a knock on the door. If not for the haughty shadow standing guard outside — reluctantly, of course, since mundane tasks such as this were grossly beneath it — Sunny would have tensed up.

However, he already knew that it was Cassie.

The blind girl walked inside, froze for a moment, then raised a deliciously smelling package.

"...I brought food."

threw a quick glance at Kai

has some

not stare at the

Master, his looks assumed an almost hypnotizing quality. It was easy to get distracted if one stared at

became much better looking, albeit to a different degree. After studying Kai and Cassie for a bit, Sunny couldn't help but shake his head ruefully, a stunned expression on his face. He finally

one he had ever met was able to match. The four of them were Masters too, now, but they were far away from

And Sunny himself?

had once predicted, but even he couldn't call himself unassuming anymore. The scrawny kid from the outskirts was gone. Instead,

their darkness, visible only to Sunny himself, golden threads of Weaver's forbidden legacy glowed with

settled around the table and

triumph over the Nightmare, none of the four seemed too joyous… well, except for Effie, who couldn't stop grinning and stealing glances at her pristine, vigorous

other free, however, just felt…

Inside the Nightmare, there was no time for weakness. They had to carry on no matter how deep the wounds dealt to their souls cut. Now that the

of the Red Colosseum, the nightmares, the assault on the Ivory City… all of it was slowly coming back

their share of

while, Kai poured himself a cup of tea, looked at Sunny, and asked with

remember much after

dropped her fork and stared at the archer with a

what? You were swallowed by the

Kai smiled with embarrassment:

really. I just, sort of… jumped into his mouth. Because I

didn't say anything. She

looked down,

deception because he had assumed that I would not trust anyone with the knives, I think. After you killed the dragon, there was no real reason for him to stay. He left

for a few